Young Scientist Essay |From Life 2.0 to Energy 5.0, Are Humans Ready?"

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It is generally believed that a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial change is in the ascendant. From a technology-economic long-wave perspective, the current and next 10 to 15 years are in the fifth long-wave downward phase since the industrial revolution, as early as 2035, as late as 2045, will open a new round of prosperity cycle. Each long-wave downward phase is a period when countries are scrambling to invest in scientific research, and it is also a period of intensive emergence of innovative technologies. As many professionals have pointed out, since the 1970s, science and technology have been in the plateau area of "Great Stagnation", and scientists and economists speculate that unlike previous times, the important feature of this round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial change is group breakthroughs.

Looking back at the 250 years since the Industrial Revolution, the material, energy and information on which people and human societies depend have been greatly improved. The steam engine (represented by various power machinery) has enhanced people's "hands", and material processing has achieved multiple leaps; internal combustion engines and electricity (represented by automobiles and airplanes) have enhanced people's "feet", and multiple changes have emerged in energy power; information technology (represented by various sensory communication facilities) has enhanced people's "senses", and information processing has reached an exponential advancement.

Looking forward to the next 30 years, it is likely that there will be three important industrial changes, and the three major resources on which people and human society depend will achieve a comprehensive leap. In the first 10 years, led by intelligent technology, people's cognitive ability will be greatly improved, and the level of information processing in human society will reach an unprecedented height. In the second 10 years, dominated by biotechnology, people's physical ability will be greatly improved, and the level of material processing in human society will reach an unprecedented height (in essence, material materials are mainly to meet a series of desires and needs derived from human bodily functions). In the third 10 years, led by energy science and technology, the operational capacity of human society will be greatly improved.

By 2050, the United Nations predicts that the global population will be close to 10 billion. Today, more and more people are looking at potentially habitable planets outside of the world, such as Mars. In the next 30 years, on the 1.0 earth, the three major resources that human and human society rely on will show the early characteristics of "2-3-4-5", which will prepare for the migration to "Earth 2.0".

One is Life 2.0. Darwinian natural evolution continues, but with the intervention of technological regulation and cultural "memes", Lamarck's active evolution will gradually show its power. Surface organisms are based on the four bases of A, C, T, and G, but scientists have compounded 2 to 4 artificial bases to construct a completely new species. Scientific and technological innovation not only affects the natural and social environment, but also begins to penetrate deeply into life and profoundly affects the human body.

The second is World 3.0. The virtual new space will greatly liberate the human imagination, realize the transcendence of the physical space of 1.0 and the information space of 2.0, so that people's eyes can be projected from the three-dimensional scale to the high-dimensional space, in order to obtain a new understanding of the material world. The metacosm's explosion in 2021 could bring unprecedented creative momentum to the processing and manufacture of matter.

The third is Smart 4.0. On the basis of genetic inheritance (intelligence 1.0, reptiles and before), adjustable nervous system (intelligence 2.0, birds and mammals), cultural inheritance (intelligence 3.0, humans), with the integration of human intelligence and machine intelligence, the evolution of biological intelligence will enter the 4.0 era. The development of brain-computer interfaces and the realization of non-invasive "brain networking" for 2 to 3 people herald the beginning of a new era of holographic memory and extreme learning.

The fourth is energy 5.0. Human society is using energy from natural forces (human, fire, animal feng shui), coal/steam engines, gasoline and diesel/internal combustion engines, electricity/electric motors, and is moving towards inexhaustible energy. With the official assembly of the International Thermonuclear Fusion Experimental Reactor (ITER), the breakthrough of nuclear fusion in China and many countries, the installation of wind and photovoltaics and the implementation of the "double carbon" strategy, the clean, low-cost and efficient production of energy is becoming a reality.

Kevin Kelly once lamented that there was a "dilemma" in predicting the future: "either wrong or no one believed it". Jules Verne pointed out: "Whatever man can imagine, there is always someone who can finally achieve it." Physicist Caysa Hidalgo, in his book The Nature of Growth, points out: "Complex commodities ... From imagination". Perhaps, the only factor that constrains future development lies in people's imagination. Thus, it can be said that Eric Beinhawk's assertion that "wealth is knowledge, and its origin is evolution" in the book "The Origin of Wealth", a complex science "collection", clearly reveals that the reason why people are so eager to predict the future today is because the economy and society are accelerating to the future.

It just so happens that the future is roaring!

Author:Li Wan(Researcher, Shanghai Academy of Sciences)

Editor: Shen Xiangsha